S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act

[Intense]

From your link.

This bill, as originally written, would have outlawed most nutritional supplements through “harmonization” with European laws. It also would have authorized ten-year prison sentences for farmers selling raw milk to their neighbors. Both of those provisions were eventually stripped out of the bill thanks to some last-minute amendments, but it gives you an idea of the outright police state mentality of the original bill authors who attempted to put in place complete government control over food, gardens, raw milk and more.

Despite massive protests, US Senate passes S 510 Food Safety Bill | The Vigilant Citizen

 

[random3434]

Without clicking on all the sky-is-falling videos,
Where does the bill make it illegal to grow and share food?

Well, does this bill make it illegal to grow and share food?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

NOTE

The following summary of S. 510 reflects the manager’s amendment, as released
by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on August 12, 2010.







Summary and Background


During the week of November 15th, the Senate may consider S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The Senate’s consideration of this legislation has been preceded by over a year of bipartisan work from, among others, Senators Durbin, Harkin, Dodd, Alexander, Burr, Gregg, and the late Senator Kennedy.



This bipartisan legislation would overhaul our current food safety system, which has failed to protect far too many Americans and will continue to fail them unless Congress improves the nation’s food safety laws. The legislation would address a number of the weaknesses of the current system by, among other provisions:



Giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to recall foods when firms fail to voluntarily recall products on their own, when a food is adulterated or contains undeclared allergens and will cause serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals;


Requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), within three years of enactment, to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish a national trace-back system;


Requiring food importers to perform food safety supplier verification activities and prohibit the importation of food by an importer if they do not undertake food safety supplier verification activities;


Expands the nation’s current food facility registration laws requiring all food facilities (excluding farms) to register with the FDA biennially and gives the FDA the authority and the assurance that it will be permitted to inspect registered facilities as permitted; and


Requires all registered domestic facilities (excluding farms) to identify known or reasonably foreseeable hazards and implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent those identified hazards.

S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act


What do you Support? What are your Concerns?

This is for the common good to bad when they start mentioning the common good that means they want to take another right away.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

With Obama, the trade off is always your poverty and his control.

This is much bigger than Obama.

Obama is a puppet, the front man for the real power behind all this.

Soros and his cadre of people that want nothing less than a socialist world that is totally reliant on the power elite.

Theres one more behind soros, the puppet master is also being played

 

[logical4u]

Where does it mention shrinking the food supply?

It will close small producers who can't afford attorneys to tell them if they are in compliance.

Moron.

So medium sized groves that are harvested by illegals and irrigated with their sewer water shouldn't be inspected for safety in the same manner as larger growers?
Anyone selling produce for public consumption should be subjected to stricy inspection standards.
Being in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years it would be really nice if, when I ran out of lettuce, I could run across the street to a produce stand and buy some from them rather than having to order from "an approved food source" at a much higher price.
How comfortable are you going to a restaurant and not being sure of the quality of produce they're using??
How can you be sure that proper temperatures are kept or proper rotation. What chemicals are on it? etc....

What about the large places with white rooms and the best clean policies that have the illegals cutting thru their fields, grabbing a meal on the way and also relieving themselves on their way?

 

[KissMy]

Here is the link to the New S.510 Bill that passed the Senate. By doing a word search I can see It has 24 exemptions in it where as the origional introduced S.510 Bill only had 1 exemption in it. I have not thoroughly read it yet but the new one seems to no longer make small local farm food trade illegal. It still affects operations that trade $500k & up & anyone trading food with other countries. I think inspected food could advertise that as a marketing tool on their package. I do not see why it should be illegal to trade non-inspected food if that is what the producer & consumer wants.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Congress.org - Legislation:

(1) allocate resources to inspect facilities and articles of food imported into the United States based on their risk profiles; (2) increase the frequency of inspection of all facilities; and (3) report to the appropriate congressional committees annually on food facility and food import inspections. Title III: Improving the Safety of Imported Food - (Sec. 301) Requires U.S. importers to perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that imported food is produced in compliance with applicable requirements related to hazard analysis and standards for produce safety and is not adulterated or misbranded.

It takes a more PROACTIVE stance to food inspections rather than just reacting to outbreaks.

Why?

The incidence of food borne illness has been going steadily down. We have the ability to trace an illness back to the animal or farm it started now, and eliminate the source. The only way to prevent food poisoning is to have inspectors at every farm, ranch, store, distribution point, processing plant, and on every truck, train, etc in the entire country, and that would not prevent anything. If you think it will you are delusional. Making the FDA part of Homeland Security is nothing more than a power grab. It will raise the cost of groceries, eliminate small farms, and destroy the gourmet cheese industry, with no discernible return on the investment.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Wait, do we or don't we want our food supply to be safe and regulated, or just risk the chance of Botulism and food poisoning with rancid meats, tainted cheeses, leaded water, et al...for us.




Help me out here.

It already is.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Could you imagine the whackaloons on this board had Bush done this?

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Wait, do we or don't we want our food supply to be safe and regulated, or just risk the chance of Botulism and food poisoning with rancid meats, tainted cheeses, leaded water, et al...for us.




Help me out here.

Where the hell are you buying your food? Some roadside market run by the Manson Family?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Where does it mention shrinking the food supply?

It will close small producers who can't afford attorneys to tell them if they are in compliance.

Moron.

So medium sized groves that are harvested by illegals and irrigated with their sewer water shouldn't be inspected for safety in the same manner as larger growers?
Anyone selling produce for public consumption should be subjected to stricy inspection standards.
Being in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years it would be really nice if, when I ran out of lettuce, I could run across the street to a produce stand and buy some from them rather than having to order from "an approved food source" at a much higher price.
How comfortable are you going to a restaurant and not being sure of the quality of produce they're using??
How can you be sure that proper temperatures are kept or proper rotation. What chemicals are on it? etc....

Did you know that your local health department has inspectors to answer those questions? Why do we need to task the FDA with something that is already being done?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Golly gee whiz, you are stuck on stupid in every category, Revere.

The legislation passes with strong bi-partisan support. Government worked as it should.

That it did. The Senate passed an unconstitutional bill, and the House called them on it.

House May Block Food Safety Bill Over Senate Error : Roll Call



Not what you thought you meant, is it?

 

[Intense]

Selecting a place to dine out is now even easier with the City's new restaurant inspection website. Here you’ll find health inspection results for each of New York City's 24,000 restaurants.

The Health Department conducts unannounced inspections of restaurants at least once a year. Inspectors check for compliance in food handling, food temperature, personal hygiene and vermin control. Each violation of a regulation earns a certain number of points. At the end of the inspection, the inspector totals the points, and this number is the restaurant's inspection score—the lower the score, the better. For more information about scoring, read How We Score and Grade (PDF).
Restaurant Inspection Information : NYC DOHMH

 

[Intense]

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
MENTAL HYGIENE
Thomas Farley, MD, MPH
Commissioner
June 2010
Letter Grading for Sanitary Inspections
What It Means for Restaurants and Consumers
Starting in July 2010, New York City is requiring certain food service establishments to post letter
grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. These questions and answers summarize
the grading program.
OVERVIEW
Why is the Health Department issuing letter grades to restaurants?
The Health Department is issuing restaurant letter grades to help consumers make informed choices
about where to eat out. Consumer awareness creates a powerful new incentive for restaurants to
maintain the highest food safety standards.
Which establishments are graded?
Some food service establishments that require Health Department permits will receive and post letter
grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. These establishments include most
restaurants, coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, retail bakeries, and fixed-site food stands. This
document uses the term “restaurants” to refer to all these establishments.
Which establishments are not graded?
Letter grades are not being issued to mobile food vending units, temporary food service
establishments, food service establishments operated by primary or secondary schools, hospitaloperated
cafeterias, correctional facilities, charitable organizations (including soup kitchens or other
prepared food distribution programs), or food service establishments operated by not-for-profit
membership organizations, which serve food only to their members.
What are the grades, and what do they mean?
Grades reflect how well a restaurant complies with the food safety requirements of the New York
City Health Code and the State Sanitary Code. When inspectors examine a restaurant’s sanitary
conditions and practices, they assign numerical points for different violations of the Health Code.
Different violations carry different numbers of points, depending on their nature and severity. The
total number of violation points provides a measure of the restaurant’s general condition. Under the
new system, the Health Department will use the scores from certain inspections to generate letter
grades that are easier to interpret. Here are the grades:
• Grade A. 0 to 13 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade B. 14 to 27 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade C. 28 or more points for sanitary violations.




http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/rii/restaurant-grading-faq.pdf

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
MENTAL HYGIENE
Thomas Farley, MD, MPH
Commissioner
June 2010
Letter Grading for Sanitary Inspections
What It Means for Restaurants and Consumers
Starting in July 2010, New York City is requiring certain food service establishments to post letter
grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. These questions and answers summarize
the grading program.
OVERVIEW
Why is the Health Department issuing letter grades to restaurants?
The Health Department is issuing restaurant letter grades to help consumers make informed choices
about where to eat out. Consumer awareness creates a powerful new incentive for restaurants to
maintain the highest food safety standards.
Which establishments are graded?
Some food service establishments that require Health Department permits will receive and post letter
grades that correspond to their sanitary inspection scores. These establishments include most
restaurants, coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, retail bakeries, and fixed-site food stands. This
document uses the term “restaurants” to refer to all these establishments.
Which establishments are not graded?
Letter grades are not being issued to mobile food vending units, temporary food service
establishments, food service establishments operated by primary or secondary schools, hospitaloperated
cafeterias, correctional facilities, charitable organizations (including soup kitchens or other
prepared food distribution programs), or food service establishments operated by not-for-profit
membership organizations, which serve food only to their members.
What are the grades, and what do they mean?
Grades reflect how well a restaurant complies with the food safety requirements of the New York
City Health Code and the State Sanitary Code. When inspectors examine a restaurant’s sanitary
conditions and practices, they assign numerical points for different violations of the Health Code.
Different violations carry different numbers of points, depending on their nature and severity. The
total number of violation points provides a measure of the restaurant’s general condition. Under the
new system, the Health Department will use the scores from certain inspections to generate letter
grades that are easier to interpret. Here are the grades:
• Grade A. 0 to 13 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade B. 14 to 27 points for sanitary violations.
• Grade C. 28 or more points for sanitary violations.




http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/rii/restaurant-grading-faq.pdf

Well, it is NYC. Personally, that all this is needed.. I find hilarious.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

It will close small producers who can't afford attorneys to tell them if they are in compliance.

Moron.

So medium sized groves that are harvested by illegals and irrigated with their sewer water shouldn't be inspected for safety in the same manner as larger growers?
Anyone selling produce for public consumption should be subjected to stricy inspection standards.
Being in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years it would be really nice if, when I ran out of lettuce, I could run across the street to a produce stand and buy some from them rather than having to order from "an approved food source" at a much higher price.
How comfortable are you going to a restaurant and not being sure of the quality of produce they're using??
How can you be sure that proper temperatures are kept or proper rotation. What chemicals are on it? etc....

Did you know that your local health department has inspectors to answer those questions? Why do we need to task the FDA with something that is already being done?

Gotta get the Feds involved man...

 

[hortysir]

Congress.org - Legislation:

(1) allocate resources to inspect facilities and articles of food imported into the United States based on their risk profiles; (2) increase the frequency of inspection of all facilities; and (3) report to the appropriate congressional committees annually on food facility and food import inspections. Title III: Improving the Safety of Imported Food - (Sec. 301) Requires U.S. importers to perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that imported food is produced in compliance with applicable requirements related to hazard analysis and standards for produce safety and is not adulterated or misbranded.

It takes a more PROACTIVE stance to food inspections rather than just reacting to outbreaks.

Why?

The incidence of food borne illness has been going steadily down. We have the ability to trace an illness back to the animal or farm it started now, and eliminate the source. The only way to prevent food poisoning is to have inspectors at every farm, ranch, store, distribution point, processing plant, and on every truck, train, etc in the entire country, and that would not prevent anything. If you think it will you are delusional. Making the FDA part of Homeland Security is nothing more than a power grab. It will raise the cost of groceries, eliminate small farms, and destroy the gourmet cheese industry, with no discernible return on the investment.

As I thought I said clearly, as we are now we wait until there is an outbreak before the investigative wheels start turning.
This bill implements control points between the supplier and consumer that would help stop an outbreak to begin with.

It will close small producers who can't afford attorneys to tell them if they are in compliance.

Moron.

So medium sized groves that are harvested by illegals and irrigated with their sewer water shouldn't be inspected for safety in the same manner as larger growers?
Anyone selling produce for public consumption should be subjected to stricy inspection standards.
Being in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years it would be really nice if, when I ran out of lettuce, I could run across the street to a produce stand and buy some from them rather than having to order from "an approved food source" at a much higher price.
How comfortable are you going to a restaurant and not being sure of the quality of produce they're using??
How can you be sure that proper temperatures are kept or proper rotation. What chemicals are on it? etc....

Did you know that your local health department has inspectors to answer those questions? Why do we need to task the FDA with something that is already being done?

Yep. Deal with my local inspector quite often. Thanks for asking!
As much as I'm against big brother over-reaching, this is one time I do not believe that's the case.
This is once that our welfare, as it pertains to interstate commerce, is in their authority.
Intrastate commerce would be in the realm of state inspectors.
That being said, the one good logical argument I've read speaks to the cost and expanding government payroll.
To that I repeat that I agree that it is in their constitutional authority to try and protect our food supply.


I'm still waiting for someone to show me where it criminalizes growing and sharing food.

 

[Intense]

Section 301—foreign supplier verification program. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would require importers to:

Perform food safety supplier verification activities to mitigate risks in imported foods; and

Prohibit the importation of food by an importer if they do not undertake food safety supplier verification activities.

Importers of seafood, juice, and low-acid canned food that comply with existing regulations would be deemed to be in compliance with this section.

Section 302—voluntary qualified importer program. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would allow importers to qualify for expedited review and importation of food if:

They go above and beyond the minimum standards to ensure the safety of imported food.

Section 303—authority to require import certifications for food. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would allow the FDA to:

Require certification or other assurance of safety for high-risk food imports.

The legislation also includes a provision which states that FDA may refuse admission of a food import lacking required certification.

Section 304—prior notice of imported food shipments. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would require:

HHS to issue an interim final rule that would require prior notice for an imported food to include the name of any country that refused entry of the food.

Section 305—building capacity of foreign governments with respect to food. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would require the FDA to:

Develop a comprehensive plan to help expand the technical, scientific, and regulatory capacity of foreign governments and their respective food industries.

Section 306—inspection of foreign food facilities. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would allow the FDA to:

Enter into agreements and arrangements with foreign governments to facilitate the inspection of foreign facilities; and

Refuse entry of food from a foreign facility or country that fails to permit inspection by the United States.

Section 307—accreditation of third-party auditors and audit agents. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would direct the FDA to:

Recognize accreditation bodies to accredit third parties to certify that foreign food facilities are in compliance with U.S. food safety standards; and

Use third party certification for participation in the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program or to fulfill import certification requirements established by the FDA.

Section 308—foreign offices of the FDA. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would direct the FDA to:

Establish offices in at least five foreign nations to improve the agency’s presence overseas and positively impact the safety of FDA-regulated products.

Section 309—smuggled food. The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act would require the Secretary of HHS to consult with the Secretary of DHS, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and the Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to:

Develop and implement a strategy to better identify smuggled food and prevent its entry into the United States.
S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act

 

[B. Kidd]

80% of the food supply is already regulated by the FDA. Approx. 5,000 people (a scant .016% of the pop.) die yearly from food poisoning according to the CDC. In Jan. 2010, Michael R. Taylor was named Deputy Commissioner of Foods at the FDA. Prior to this, he was a lobbyist for Monsanto.
Doesn't appear the food industry needs furthur regulation at this time. Anymore, Fed. regulation is just a prop favoring corporatism.
So what's so damned important about this bill? If the FDA needs money, there are other ways to fund it.

 

[Intense]

Here is my concern with the Bill in a nutshell.

For Example: If the Federal Government so chose to handle Imports into this Country, as it has handles Illegal Immigration, by refusing to take It's responsibility seriously, and obstructing Individual States when They attempt to do what the Federal Government refuses to, what is to stop the Federal Government from forcing the Import of contaminated food for what ever perverted reason or excuse it gives, and allow harm. How many way's in our lives does the Government assume control, fall asleep on the job, and refuse anyone else permission to act in it's place? I only bring this up because it sadly appears to me that the Government has more times proved itself incompetent and incapable of keeping up It's end of the deal. Be the issue the simplification of filling out Tax Forms, or understanding Tax Law, be it administration in most areas of our lives, we see redundancy, we see delay, we see great expense.

I truly like and support the Ideas and Principles in the Bill. The problem is "Will Government be able to act proficiently, capably, and within reason." How much food will be at risk of perishing because of incompetent bureaucracy? Can we trust these guy's or will the food loss end up dwarfing what Roosevelt destroyed during the Great Depression? I have a hard time trusting a Government that Obstructs that do what it refuses to do itself. I truly wish I didn't feel this way, the intentions sound noble. I'm just fed up with being screwed over.